Cigarette extinguisher and selfemptying ash tray



p 11, 1956 w. M. DONNELLY 2,

CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHER AND SELF-EMPTYING ASH TRAY Filed March 27, 1953 INVENTOR win/1430171222251 W; BY M ATTORNEYS United States PatentO CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHER AND SELF- EMPTYTNG ASH TRAY William M. Donnelly, Carmel, Calif. Application March 27, 1953, Serial N 0. 345,203 2 Claims. (Cl. 131-235) This invention relates to, and it is a major object to provide a novel cigarette extinguisher and self-emptying ashtray; the device being especially designed for use on automobiles, trucks, busses, or airplanes, but is not limited to such adaptations. The device is here shown and described as applied to an automobile.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a cigarette extinguisher and self-emptying ashtray which does not require the smoker, while driving the automobile, to manually extinguish a cigarette before discarding it; the device including an elongated slidable trough, in which the smoker merely deposits the cigarette and then slides the latter from one position to another. Thereafter, the cigarette is automatically extinguished, and some time later is discharged, falling cold from the device onto the roadway. The device is therefore very safe in use and assures against the starting of roadside grass or forest fires, which occur when a burning cigarette is thrown out of an automobile.

An additional object of the instant invention is to providea cigarette extinguisher and self-emptying ashtray, as above, wherein the cigarettes are received from a slidable trough in a tube for extinguishing the cigarettes lying in end to end relation in a row in such tube, whereby when a burning cigarette is introduced into the tube for extinguishing, such row is advanced, and an extinguished or cold cigarette at the other end of the row automatically discharges.

A further object of the present invention is to provide novel means to prevent any retraction of the cigarettes from the extinguishing tube.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel cigarette extinguisher and self-emptying ashtray which is designed for ease and economy of manufacture; ready attachment as an accessory to an automobile; and convenience of use.

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the device as mounted in connection with the instrument panel and fire wall of an automobile; the slidable trough being shown open and the view being somewhat foreshortened both vertically and horizontally, with said instrument panel and fire wall in section.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevation on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevation of the device showing the slidable trough in open position.

Fig. 5 is a similar view but shows such trough in closed position.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the device includes a substantially horizontal tube 1 which extends forwardly from the instrument panel 2 through the fire, wall-3. Ahead of the fire wall 3 the horizontal tube 1 is in communication with and supports-a narrow parallel-sided chute 4' having a closed top, front, and back, but open at the bottom. The lower edge of the chute'4 is cut on a forward and upward incline, as at 5.

A flap door 6 is transversely hinged, as at 7, at its upper edge to the lower edge of the chute 4 at the front of the latter; said flap door being adapted to swing upwardly and rearwardly in closing relation to the, bottom of said chute.

At. the end opposite the chute 4 the tube 1 extends through an opening 8 in the instrument panel 2, and is fixed to a mounting plate 9 secured by screws 10 to the face of said instrument panel 2 in covering relation to the opening 8. The tube '1 opens, at the adjacent end, through said mounting plate 9.

The numeral 11 indicates ahorizontal elongated trough semi-circular in cross section and which opens'upwardly; said trough being of a diameter and disposed so that it is slidable from a position confined within the tube 1, as in Fig. 5, rearwardly to an open cigarette receiving position, as in Fig. 4. At its re'arend the slidable trough 11 is fitted with an end flange 12 011. which is mounted a rearwardly projecting finger knob 13.

When the trough 11 is in its closed position, confined within the tube 1, the end flange 12 abuts the mounting plate 9.

The slidable trough '11 is formed integrally along its upper edges with longitudinal wings 14 which extend laterally at an upward and outward incline, with relatively great divergence therebetween. These wings 14 aid in the manual placement of a lighted cigarette 15 in the trough 11 when the latter is in open-position, as in Fig. 4'.

The longitudinal wings. 14 s'lidably project through corresponding slots 16 in the mounting plate 9, and at their forward ends said wings include upturned stop ears 17 adapted to abut the forward side of the mounting plate 9 when the trough 11 is open as shown in Fig. 4. At its forward end the slidable trough 11 merges integrally and is in communication with a guide tube 18 of lesser longitudinal extent than the tube 1, but running in the latter; such guide tube stabilizing the trough 11 in its sliding motion between open and closed positions.

Opposite sides of the horizontal tube 1 are longitudinally slotted, as at 19, to permit of longitudinal to and fro motion of the wings 14 with the trough 11.

When said trough 11 is pulled rearwardly to its open position, with the stop ears 17 abutting the mounting plate 11, the near or outer end 20 of the tube 18 lies in the tube 1 short of said mounting plate. The purpose of this is so that a fixed depending prong 21 may extend downwardly, without being struck, from the top and internally of the tube 1 immediately adjacent the mounting plate 11; such prong being inclined forwardly and downwardly, as shown.

In use of the above described cigarette extinguisher and self-emptying ashtray, the trough 11 is first pulled to its open position and a burning cigarette 15 is manually deposited in such trough. Thereafter, the trough 11 is pushed to its closed position; said trough, with the cigarette therein, then lying wholly within the confines of the tube 1. The lack of oxygen soon extinguishes the cigarette.

As the trough 11 is run into the tube 1, carrying the cigarette 15 into the latter, the prong 21 drags relatively along the top of the cigarette, so that when the trough is again pulled open, said prong impales the cigarette (see Fig. 5) and prevents its retraction with the trough. As a result, with recurring uses of the trough 1 to receive and advance lighted cigarettes, those previously fed into the tube 1 lie in the latter in extinguished, end to end relation. As each subsequent cigarette is fed into the top 1 by advance of the trough 11, the .row of extinguished cigarettes pushes forwardly.

I With each such occurrence'one or more of the cigarettes will be delivered from the forward end-of the horizontal tube 1 and drop into the chute 4, and falling from the latter drop onto the roadway. Being extinguished or cold, such discharged cigarettes cannot start grass or forest fires along the roadway.

When the automobile engine is in operation the fiap door 6 tends to close against the bottom 5 of the chute 4 under the influence of the air blast from the engine fan. The purpose of this closure of the flap door 6 is to prevent any undesirable back pressure or how of air in the tube 1, which back pressure is further prevented by a vent opening 22 in one side of the chute 4 adjacent the top thereof.

It should also be noted that the tube 1 and the relatively close fitting but slidable tube 18 therein are of as small a diameter as is commensurate with the row of cigarettes being received therein, so that the presence of oxygen is reduced to a minimum, resulting in very quick extinguishing of each lighted cigarette as it enters the assembly of said tubes.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, the following is claimed as new and useful, and upon which Letters Patent are desired:

1. A cigarette extinguisher and self-emptying ashtray comprising a mounting plate adapted to be mounted on a support, an elongated tube open at both ends mounted at its forward end on and projecting forwardly from the plate and adapted to receive cigarette butts therein in end to end in single-file order, a prong depending into the tube adjacent the plate, a guide tube telescopically 4 projecting into the first named tube, the upper part of the rear end portion of the guide tube being cut away to form a trough including outwardly flaring wings projecting from the cut-away edges of said guide tube portion, and a transverse plate connected to the wings and closing the rear end of the trough, the mounting plate and the first named tube for the length of the wings being slotted for the slidable reception of the wings, the wings at their forward end projecting through the mounting plate when the trough is in a full rearward position whereby the mounting plate forms the forward end of the trough in all positions thereof, and a stop on one wing behind the mounting plate adapted to engage the forward face of the mounting plate and limit the rearward movement of the guide tube and trough, the cut-away portion of the first named tube extending forwardly a suflicient distance to clear the prong when the stop is engaged with the mounting plate. 7 V

2. A device, as in claim 1, in which the guide tube engages the first named tube with a sliding fit and is of sufficient length to cover the tube slots in all positions of the trough relative to the mounting plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 450,312 Hieatzman Apr. 14, 1891 456,010 Brittain July 14, 1891 1,226,634 Briese May 22, 1917 1,921,874 Glomb Aug. 8, 1933 2,095,870 Hirsh Oct. 12, 1937 2,238,503 Owen et a1. Apr. 15, 1941 2,246,642 Stachowiak June 24, 1941 2,435,687 Latin Feb., 10, 1948 2,561,275 Hentschel July 17, 1951 2,673,566 Belmont Mar. 3, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 736,575 France Nov. 25, 1932 

